Seoul

This has been one of the strangest ways I've ever rung in my birthday...

It all started 9 hours ago when I boarded my plane for South Korea. Five hours later I arrived at Incheon International Airport. I had planned on spending my evening at the airport since Incheon has sleeping and showering facilities, however, I was shuttled through customs and out of the terminal so efficiently that I decided to head into the city and pay for a hotel there. I was very excited to see on my handy dandy iPhone that there were many different opinions available for me in the center of the city.

From the airport, I boarded the express train to the city. It only takes about 45 minutes directly to Seoul Station, which looks so central on a map. Super easy! However, on the train I immediately took notice that very few things were translated in English.

Walking out of the train station, I had my first rude awakening. It was cold and not just Seattle cold but ice cold. There was snow on the ground. My plan had been to go somewhere with free wifi and find a hotel on my hotels.com app. The cold and the fact that everything was closed when I arrived at 10am really stifled that plan. Fortunately, there was a Hilton close. I walked there only to realize that it was a five star Hilton and rooms were $280 a night.

That manager unwilling to budge at all on the price put me in a cab to Myeong-dong. In the cab I encountered my second issue. There are hills in Seoul. Similar to Seattle. On the map the distance had looked walkable. In the taxi, I was thankful i had a ride.

In Myeong-dong, the streets were still a little busy. This is apparently the shopping district of the city. There were a couple hotels in the area so I walked into one and asked for a room. I was not going to get the best rate this way but it was cold, late and dark. I'm only in Seoul for 22 hours so I knew I had to bite the bullet. The room ended up being roughly the same price as the five star room Kenny and I stayed at in Saigon. Fun.

After I put what little stuff I have (my luggage is at the airport) in my room, I went out to find some food. Wanting to stay close to my hotel, I went into the restaurant that had the most people within a two block radius of my hotel. It was not until after I sat down that I learned that the only thing they had on their menu was fried chicken. Oh dear.

The food turned out to be delicious with the only issue being that I don't like fried chicken at all. As I was eating a group of drunken Korean guys approached my table. They started asking me questions in broken english. A group of girls next to me intervened and I started talking to them. Turns out they are tourists, like everyone else I the restaurant, visiting from the Philippines. When they heard i was by myself, they decided not to leave until after the men left. We ate our dinner, chatting about our respective homelands, and then parted ways.

Now I'm back at my hotel. The clock just turn to midnight. It's officially my birthday. About to sleep for six hours before exploring as much of the city as I can before my flight.